mech's opae'ula thread

[Mech]

So i got 5 nerite snails today and i have them in my tank, they delivery came in real late and the water was stone cold 4 seem to be eating away and 1 hasnt moved so i hope its ok. I noticed a white Opae ula today with a green saddle please excuse the quality.

[jonesinfershrimp]

is it albino do you think?

[Mech]

im not sure to be honest.

[jonesinfershrimp]

hmm, i suppose a better question would have been it have red eyes? thats the trait that would say if it was or not isuppose. but im no genetics expert lol

[Mech]

Quick update, 2 out of the 5 snails I bought died within a day but the other 3 are cleaning my tank wall brilliantly, sort of sad to lose some though.

Maybe they were stressed before I put them in the tank and the salt was too much for them. I did drip salt water in before hand but this obviously wasn't enough

[Varanus]

Quick update, 2 out of the 5 snails I bought died within a day but the other 3 are cleaning my tank wall brilliantly, sort of sad to lose some though.

Maybe they were stressed before I put them in the tank and the salt was too much for them. I did drip salt water in before hand but this obviously wasn't enough

Sometimes some snails just don't adapt as well as others. It might be for the best though, given the sheer amount of algae nerites eat. Fewer snails will mean less competition.

[Mech]

Well the 3 snails that didn't kick the bucket are still happy eating away after just under 4 days in my tank. Hope that means all is ok with them health wise. I've noticed though that my Opaeula are obsessed with the snails and constantly clean them and poke at the squishy bit under their shell which makes them keep all tucked under as much as possible. Obviously the shrimp are just picking food off them or do you think they are grabbing loose algae off the tank where the snails are pulling it off?

[Mech]

just a quick shot of one at feeding time

[JennyPenny]

That's a fantastic picture! Pretty shrimp!
Are your snails horned nerites? I've been thinking about adding one or two to my tank. They seem to be kind of fragile though. :/

[Mech]

That's a fantastic picture! Pretty shrimp!
Are your snails horned nerites? I've been thinking about adding one or two to my tank. They seem to be kind of fragile though. :/

yup they are ZEBRA THORN NERITE SNAIL *CLITHON DIADEMA* - copy and paste from ebay

i bought 5 and put them strait into my tank, 2 died but the other 3 are doing great. They will only reproduce in brackish water so they are comfy, they will live in fresh also but wont reproduce.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZEBRA-THORN-N ... SwNSxVP5w2

[Mustafa]

well i spotted the little one about a week ago but tonight i got a video of it and a few photos, how old do you think it is?

That one almost definitely came with your other shrimp. Baby Supershrimp are much tinier than that. The shrimp in the video is at least several months old.

[Mustafa]

Good luck with the adventure! Now we need Mustafa to breed the clear ones with green eggs.

Ken

And the pressure is rising ....and I'm feeling bad I haven't done it yet. I know I've said it many times before...but I'm planning on it.

[Mustafa]

Took this video when i saw a shrimp eating direct from the ocean rock, at first i thought that maybe it lost its legs/claws and needed to eat direct from mouth to food but it gets up and eats like the rest and continues to eat strange again. May be nothing but i wanted to share it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i80AZI_qV4o

This is a normal variation in feeding behavior across many (most? All?) shrimp species in the hobby. They tend to do that when the food item is not small and fragile enough to be plucked with their chelae/arms/fans etc.. They just use their mouth. It's the equivalent of some people not being able to tear a string apart with their hands but use their teeth instead (and it works...but not so good for your teeth probably). I must say, though, I've never seen Supershrimp do this before. But then..with so many shrimp around, I haven't been paying much attention to what individual shrimp have been doing.

[Mustafa]

Quick update, 2 out of the 5 snails I bought died within a day but the other 3 are cleaning my tank wall brilliantly, sort of sad to lose some though.

Maybe they were stressed before I put them in the tank and the salt was too much for them. I did drip salt water in before hand but this obviously wasn't enough

It was probably not your fault. Most imported snails are already stressed and close to death. All Nerites are imported. Plus, it's really hard to tell with a Snail how fit they are. In the past when I've purchased I've only picked the ones that were visibly crawling around...and possibly eating.